The mid eighteenth century was the peak of the enclosure movement which with government support sought to place the open lands of England under efficient control, so that agricultural practice could be made more productive.
The Royal Forest of Knaresborough, including Harrogate, was one of many open lands to be proposed for enclosure. The years between 1770 and 1794 saw no fewer than 319 Acts of Enclosure passed by Parliament, of which Knaresborough Forest’s was one of the first.
The 1770 Act of Parliament which authorised the enclosure made provision for two hundred acres of land to be left open and ‘all persons whomsoever shall and may have free access at all times to the medicinal springs and be at liberty to use and drink the waters there arising, and take the benefit thereof, and shall and may have, use, and enjoy full and free ingress, egress and regress, in, upon and over the said two hundred acres of land…’.
The final version of the Great Award was signed and sealed by the Commissioners on 19 August 1778 and ensured that Harrogate’s unique mineral wells were protected from enclosure. The two hundred acres of land to be left open became known as the Stray.